Product Review

Of all the cinematic New Waves that broke over the world in the 1960s, the one in Czechoslovakia was among the most fruitful, fascinating, and radical. With a wicked sense of humor and a healthy streak of surrealism, a group of fearless directors--including eventual Oscar winners Milos Forman and Jan Kadar--began to use film to speak out about the hypocrisy and absurdity of the Communist state. A defining work was the 1966 omnibus film Pearls of the Deep, which introduced five of the movement's greatest voices: Vera Chytilova, Jaromil Jires, Jiri Menzel, Jan Nemec, and Evald Schorm. This series presents that title, along with five other crucial works that followed close on its heels, one from each of those filmmakers--some dazzlingly experimental, some arrestingly realistic, all singular expressions from a remarkable time and place.